SHONA MORLEY (nee WHYTOCK) 

Shona managed to escape the North and joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service in 1990. She was now 22 and regarded as an old sweat by all the younger women who had joined straight from school. Shona loved the structure of training and the services. 

Joining HMS Raleigh and then moving to HMS NELSON in Portsmouth for training to be an Education Training Support Wren. She then returned to the Education Department in HMS Raleigh and met friends for life. It was the great sense of belonging she loved about being in the Wrens and she was very proud of her achievements. 

She married Dave, a RM bugler during Christmas leave 1990. 

Now, there was only one thing that would make Shona prouder than being a Wren – and that was having children and creating a family. Shona quickly fell pregnant for the first time. Unfortunately the Royal Navy were still stuck in the 19th century and unless Shona agreed to re- spec she couldn’t come back as an ETS Wren and go to sea. She was very disappointed and left after having her first baby. 

Shona took to motherhood naturally, having had practice with her God daughter, and loved every aspect of motherhood. Dave, however, was very inexperienced and needed a lot of coaching. As you can imagine Shona trained him very well! I’d say after the fourth son was born Dave was almost as good as Shona- but never quite – obviously!

A fierce and protective mother, she guided the boys through life. She let them make mistakes and told them to learn from them. She was also big on the phrase “choices have consequences”, explaining to the boys, sometimes for hours, that when making a choice you must think of the different outcomes and then take ownership when you are in the wrong. I’m sure today, as the boys have jobs, partners and families it will continue to stand them in good stead. 

Our household was very blue with 5 boys in the house. Then as they all got to 18 years old  two joined the RN and two the RM. We ended up with a household of veteran parents and 4 servicemen- amazing and we couldn’t be prouder. 

You can imagine the banter on leave periods! 

The “boys” are all married bar one, their wedding ceremony is in July ‘26. The ladies are all now well integrated into the Morley Tribe and we definitely now do pink with an extra little “female” being our lovely granddaughter, Freya. 

Shona was always proud of being a Northerner, which the boys thought was funny as she escaped to the South as quickly as she could and only returned to Carlisle to visit friends. She was well and truly a soft southerner, the only northern attribute she kept was her love of chips and gravy! 

Very quickly, Exmouth became our adopted town and was such a great place to raise a family. 

After years of watching Gardener’s World and listening to Gardener’s Question Time, Shona finally got an allotment, and by using the free labour she had at home transformed the overgrown wasteland that she was given into a thriving fruit and veg patch. Slowly she won the older men over, asking them for advice and then doing her own thing anyway! Trowel and error she called it, crops had 2 chances, they either grew or didn’t! She loved having her hands in the soil and for the past few years she hosted “The Rhubarb Challenge” competition. This was to see who could have the largest forced rhubarb. She shared the challenge, with her neighbour and mentor John on facebook, getting comments and views from all over the country, particularly the Wrens gardening group. This also reminded us how competitive Shona could be! The garden and her allotment were always her little oasis.

Her other obsession was crocheting. Shona was taught by her Old Gran in the 1970’s, but she could not ever read patterns. If she wanted to make something, other than a rectangle, she sat with a pen and paper and worked it out! I think there are still about 500 sheep’s worth of  wool in the house, enough to open a shop! Her love for crafting was always seen at birthdays and Christmas, with homemade cards, labels and even wrapping paper recently – she loved making things for people and reusing patterns. In the last few years she even dragged Dave into the process by getting him to open a framing shop. This way everything that was made had a customised, handmade frame! Framing Excellent was a project that combined Shona’s meticulous attention to detail in planning and Dave’s new found artistic skills after retiring from the Fire Service. 

Shona’s legacy will be organising the Wrens photo at Door 5 in the Royal Albert Hall at the RM Mountbatten Saturday night concert. It started off in small numbers and last year there were loads of Jenny Wrens meeting. 

(Lt Cdr Jane Pizii has volunteered to organise this for 2026!)

Unfortunately Shona’s ailments got the best of her over the last year or so. With the decision made to close the picture framing shop, Shona and Dave were looking forward to slowing down, buying a campervan and doing some travelling around places in the UK that they hadn’t visited yet. Shona’s death was a shock to the family and I’m sure to everyone who knew her. 

Her funeral and wake were very well attended with many Wrens there to say goodbye. She would have loved the church service and wake, you could feel the love in both venues. 

We will all miss her. We must remember her love, kindness and continued optimism in the toughest adversity. Which I’m sure the Wrens instilled in her many years ago. 

Goodbye Shona, Wife, Mum, Granny. (And Wren) X